'Distraction' scammers prey on elderly in Central Florida

Lois Dale answered a recent knock at her Kissimmee home thinking it was her neighbor.

Instead, the 91-year-old opened the door to a man who said his grandfather's company had installed her roof and he was there to replace loose shingles under warranty.

She asked for identification, but he ignored her and kept talking. Then, against her better judgment, Dale walked into the backyard with the stranger and watched him gaze at her roof.

She had just fallen for a scam that goes back decades and has targeted elderly homeowners across the country.

While Dale was out back with the phony roofer, an accomplice walked into her house through the unlocked front door and stole money from her purse.

"When I got back in the house, I thought, 'Gee, I wonder where my purse is,' " Dale said. "Now I realize he could have knocked me in the head or anything."

Although Dale remains spry — she drives a pickup, takes walks, volunteers at church and plans to enter her watermelon-rind pickles in the Osceola County Fair next month — she fits the victim profile for distraction burglaries.

The prime targets are elderly and live alone, said Barbara Fore, an elder-crimes investigator for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

"They're very trusting," Fore said. "Some will have memory issues. They're slow to react. They're easily taken advantage of by any kind of scammers due to their loneliness."

A similar ruse tricked a 77-year-old three years ago in DeLeon Springs. The scammers actually worked for a company that had replaced the woman's roof. They came back the next year, purportedly to fix loose shingles and give her a $30 refund.

The two men distracted her by asking for change for a $100 bill — then stole the bill and $2,600 from inside her house, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

Variations on this con include:

•A stranger posing as an employee of a city or utility company says something needs checking in the backyard.

•A man asks to use the phone or bathroom, claiming there's been a car accident or other emergency.

•A woman, sometimes accompanied by a child, pretends to be a neighbor who needs money for food or medicine.

Many of these crimes go unreported because the victims are embarrassed that they were duped. Their greatest fear is that they will be sent to a nursing home or forced to live with relatives if perceived as being unable to handle their affairs, Fore said.

Awareness is the first step toward staying safe and avoiding being ripped off. Dale said she learned that lesson the hard way.